A dying bioethicist warns of the peril of euthanasia

Here is a most poignant letter by a medical bio ethicist who himself is receiving palliative care.
He successfully argues against legalized euthanasia. Here he states:

"The fear of being a burden is a major risk to the survival of those who are chronically ill.  If euthanasia were lawful, that sense of burden would be greatly increased for there would be even greater moral pressure to relinquish one’s hold on a burdensome life.  Seriously ill people do not need euthanasia. We need better provision of palliative care services aimed at managing symptoms and maximising function, especially as we approach death.  Rather than help to die, the cause of dignity would be more greatly helped if more was done to help people live more fully with the dying process...

The proposal to make provision for a terminally person who is suffering to request, and a doctor to provide, assistance to die makes it less likely that adequate efforts will be made to make better provision for palliative care services.  Legalized euthanasia would give those responsible for funding and providing palliative care a political “out” in that respect...
In other places, such as the United Kingdom, for instance, which have adopted very liberal policies on other social policies, such as reproductive technology, gay unions and abortion, the Parliaments have strongly opposed euthanasia because euthanasia cannot be made safe for people who are seriously ill and thus vulnerable.  It is worth noting that jurisdictions such as the Netherlands and Belgium that legalized euthanasia, lacked the availability of the kind of palliative care services that developed in the UK.

Read the whole letter here         http://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/8335/